To the Editor,
Is greed (one of the seven deadly sins) capitalism`s generator and were Luddites the first greens?
Had environmentalists been a majority, would there have been an industrial revolution, coal industry or a pulp mill in Port Alberni?
Did capitalist efficiency provide the excess that unions demanded a share of, to get us the social programs and living standards that we have today?
Premier WAC Bennett called our mill`s black ash snow, the breath of prosperity that gave us full employment and the second highest wages in Canada.
Unlike public service entitlements of 18 days annual sick pay and indexed pension, supply and demand determines private enterprise workers` wages and their employers must compete and profit.
Can pristine green tourism float public servants (whose remuneration often exceeds public sector), McLean Mill and the million dollar paramedic bureaucracy?
Or will city have to downsize, contract out and like Los Angeles firemen that double as lifeguards, provide ambulance service again?
Rob Frankow,
Port Alberni
